House GOP Passes Anti-Abortion Law Certain To Be Challenged In Court

House Republicans have voted to extend a bill that would ban all
abortions after 20 weeks in the District of Columbia to apply in
every state in the nation.

The bill would limit a woman's access to abortion even if they
learn the pregnancy poses a threat to their health, but it
includes an exception in cases where the mother's life is at
risk.

The four Democrats on the constitution and civil justice
subcommittee voted against the bill, arguing that it was
unconstitutional. Campaigners on reproductive rights described
the decision by a subcommittee on the constitution to pass such a
bill as "astonishing". The bill allows no exceptions for victims
of rape or incest.

Trent Franks, a Republican representative from Arizona,
introduced his original bill last month to ban such procedures
only in the District of Columbia. HR1797, or the DC Pain Capable
Unborn Protection Act, is based on the disputed claim that a
fetus 20 weeks or older can feel pain.

But following the notorious trial of Kermit Gosnell – a
Philadelphia doctor who performed abortions well beyond the legal
limit and
was convicted of killing three babies after they born alive –
Franks amended the bill so it would apply nationwide.

In a statement released on his website on Tuesday, Franks said:
"I understand the unfortunate reality that today's markup will be
surrounded by some degree of controversy. But we, as a nation,
find ourselves at a point at which we don't offer unborn children
even the most basic protections – even protections we extend to
animals and property. The trial of Kermit Gosnell exposed late
abortions for what they really are: relocated infanticide."

He added: "I pray we use this as a 'teachable moment,' in the
words of President Obama, and can agree that, at the very least,
we are better than dismembering babies who can feel every
excruciating moment. I look forward to the bill's moving on the
full judiciary committee and to an eventual vote on this
necessary, common-sense measure."

Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive
Rights urged the full House judiciary committee members to reject
the bill. She said: "This assault on the health, dignity, and
rights of women was dangerous and unconstitutional when it was
aimed at the women of Washington, DC, and has only become more
reprehensible now that it has been amended to apply to all women
across the US."

It is, she said, "every woman's constitutional right to make her
own medical decisions without interference from politicians who
presume to know better."

"It is astonishing that the subcommittee on the constitution
would support such a clear affront to the US constitution –
especially when everywhere similar laws have been challenged in
the courts, they have been immediately blocked."

Last month, a similar ban on abortions after 20 weeks in Arizona
was struck down by the ninth circuit court of appeals. Earlier
this year, a similar law in Idaho was ruled unconstitutional by a
federal district judge, and a state court temporarily blocked a
20-week ban in Georgia in December 2012.

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood of America,
said: "This outrageous attack on women and their access to safe
and legal abortion will not stand. Speaker Boehner should stand
by his commitment to focusing on the issues important to the
American people by refusing to bring this unconstitutional and
deeply dangerous legislation to the floor.

"While abortions later in pregnancy are uncommon, it is important
that a woman and her doctor have every medical option available
to protect her health. We must have and enforce laws that protect
access to safe and legal abortion, and we must reject misguided
proposals like this one that would limit women's health care
options."

The 1973 Roe v Wade US supreme court ruling established that the
constitution protects a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy in
cases where a foetus would not survive outside the mother's body,
usually judged at 24 weeks.